Book Debate: The Enshittification of Everything and What Comes Next

Join our next Book Debate in September! 📖
This time, we will discuss the new book by Cory Doctorow, "The Reverse Centaur's Guide to Life After AI", and reflect on his previous book that coined the now-famous term enshittification.

We'll present the key ideas from both books, so you don't need to have read them to join the conversation. Come with your experience, your frustrations, and your honest read of what's happening.

​In automation theory, a centaur is a person who is assisted by a machine: a human head on a tireless robot body. A reverse centaur is the inverse: a person who has been conscripted to serve as a squishy meat appendage for an uncaring machine. The driver who cannot stop. The warehouse worker with no bathroom break. The programmer cranking out impossible volumes of code. Claims that AI will transform work are, Doctorow argues, actually a coded message to investors – signalling that mature companies should be viewed as "early stage" innovators, a far more enticing model. MediumKirkus Reviews

​The AI show, in other words, is not being performed for you.

​This September, Human Future Hub gathers to ask the questions that the hype is designed to prevent: Who is this technology actually for? Who is it doing it to? And what do we do about it?

Book links for the curious and passionate: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374621568/thereversecentaursguidetolifeafterai/

Looking forward to seeing you there! 🤓